The Enlightenment in Europe

1. The Enlightenment in Europe Ch 22. 2

2. Enlightenment • People were influenced by the Scientific Revolution. • People began applying scientific principles to all aspects of society. • Government • Religion • Economics • Education

3. Philosophies • 2 major ideas or philosophies developed during this time period. • Thomas Hobbes • John Locke Hobbes Locke

4. Thomas Hobbes • The horrors of the English Civil War convinced Thomas Hobbes that all humans were naturally selfish and wicked. • Without governments to keep order, “there would be war of every man against every man.” • Life would be “solitary, poor, nasty, and short.”

5. Hobbes’ Social Contract • In order to escape such a bleak life, people had to give up their rights to a strong ruler. • In exchange, they gained law and order. • Hobbes called this agreement a ‘social contract’. • Because people acted in their own self interest, Hobbes said the ruler needed total power to keep citizens under control.

6. The Leviathan • The best government was that of a Leviathan. (sea monster) • In Hobbes’ view, such a government was an absolute monarchy. • He expressed his ideas of the social contract in a book called, The Leviathan, published in 1651.

8. John Locke • More positive view than Hobbes • He believed that people could learn from experience and improve themselves. • As reasonable beings, they had the natural ability to govern their own affairs and to look after the welfare of society.

9. The Natural Rights of Man • He criticized absolute monarchy and favored the idea of self-government. • According to Locke, all people are born free and equal, with three natural rights – life, liberty, and property. • He called them, the Natural Rights of Man.

10. Government must protect rights • Locke said the purpose of the government is to protect the Natural Rights. • If the government fails to do so, then the people have the right to overthrow it. • He published his ideas in 1690, Two Treatises on Government.

12. John Locke Not this John Locke!

13. Thinking Changes • Locke’s ideas of Natural Rights influenced modern political thinking. • He stated that the government’s power comes from the consent of the people. • That became the foundation of modern democracy.

14. The ideas of government and popular consent and the right to rebel against unjust rulers helped inspire the struggles for liberty in Europe and the Americas. • American Revolution • French Revolution

15. Enlightenment in France • France was the capital of the Enlightenment movement. • It reached its height in the mid-1700s. • Paris became the meeting place for people who wanted to discuss politics and social issues. • The people were called “Philosophes”

18. Philosophes beliefs • They believed they could apply reason to ALL aspects of life, just as Isaac Newton had applied reason to science. • Five important concepts formed the core of their philosophy. • 1) Reason – Enlightened thinkers believed truth could be discovered through reason or logical thinking. Reason was the absence of intolerance, bigotry, or prejudice in one’s thinking .

19. 2) Nature – they believed there were natural laws of economics and politics just as there were natural laws of motion. • 3) Happiness – a person who lived by nature’s laws would find happiness. • 4) Progress – society and humankind could be perfected using a scientific approach. • 5) Liberty – through reason, society could be set free (freedom of speech, religion, travel, trade, etc.)

20. Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire) • Using the pen name, Voltaire, Francois published more than 70 books of political essays, philosophy, history, fiction, and drama. • He made frequent targets of the clergy, aristocracy, and the government. • He was sent to prison twice, and then exiled to England for two years after his second prison sentence.

21. Voltaire

22. Voltaire became impressed with the English government. • After his exile, he returned to France and continued to mock France’s laws and customs. • He enraged the King and the Catholic church. • He fled Paris in 1734.

23. Although he made many enemies, he never stopped fighting for tolerance, reason, freedom of religion,and freedom of speech.

24. Baron de Montesquieu • Another influential Enlightened writer. • He devoted himself to the study of political liberty. • Studied the history of Rome and concluded that Rome’s collapse was directly related to loss of liberty.

25. Separation of Powers • Like Voltaire, Montesquieu believed that Britain was the best-governed country of his own day. • Power was balanced among three groups of officials. • They had different branches of government.

26. 3 Separate Branches of government • The British King and his ministers held executive powers. They carried out the laws of the state. • The members of Parliament held legislative, or lawmaking power. • The judges of the English courts had the judicial power. They interpreted laws to see how they applied to a specific case.

27. Checks and Balances • Montesquieu published On the Spirit of Laws in 1748. • He said the separation of power would keep any individual or group from gaining total control of the government. • “Power should be a check to power”. • This system is now known as ‘checks and balances”

29. Jean Jacques Rousseau • Passionately committed to individual freedom • Son of a poor Swiss watchmaker • Worked as an engraver, music teacher, tutor, and secretary. • Eventually, he won recognition as a writer and went to Paris.

30. Rousseau

31. Rousseau disagrees with other Philosophes • Most people believed that reason, science, and art would improve life for all people. • Rousseau argued civilization corrupted people’s natural goodness. • He said in earliest of times, people governed themselves freely. • As people became more civilized, freedom and equality were destroyed.

32. Rousseau’s Social Contract • Rousseau believed that the only good government was one that was freely formed by the people and guided by the general will of society – a direct democracy. • Under this government, people agree to give up some of their freedom in favor of the common good. • He wrote The Social Contract in 1762

34. Hobbes Agreement between a society and its government People are inherently wicked and to be controlled by the government. Rousseau Agreement among free individuals to create a society and a government Legitimate government came from the consent of the governed All people were equal and nobility should be abolished. Compare Hobbe’s and Rousseau’s Social Contracts

35. Cesar Bonesana Beccaria • Italian philosophe • Studied the Justice system • Believed that laws existed to preserve social order, and NOT to avenge crimes. • Wrote On Crimes and Punishments (1764)

37. Becarria was against abuses of Justice • Torturing of witnesses and suspects • Irregular proceedings in trials • Punishments that were cruel • Person has a right to a speedy trial and torture should never be used. • The degree of punishment should be based on the seriousness of the crime. • Capital punishment should be abolished Governments should seek the greatest good for the greatest number of people. His ideas influenced criminal law reformers around the world.

38. Women in the Enlightenment • Rousseau believed girl’s education should teach her how to be a wife and mother. • Other critics scolded women for reading novels because they thought it encouraged idleness and wickedness.

39. Women writers • 1764, English Writer, Mary Astell published A Serious Proposal to the Ladies. • Addressed lack of educational opportunities for women. • Unequal relationship between men and women in a marriage. • “If all men are born free, how is it that all women are born slaves?”

40. Mary Astell

41. Mary Wollstonecraft published an essay called A Vindication of the Rights of Women in 1792. • The key to freedom was getting a better education. • Women need education to become virtuous and useful. • Be able to be nurses and doctors • Rights to participate in politics

42. Mary Wollstonecraft

43. Wollstonecraft received little education. • She and her sisters taught themselves by reading books. • Later, she ran a school for a brief period of time. • She married the writer, Richard Godwin. • Died at age 38 after giving birth to her daughter, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. • Shelley, later wrote the classic novel.Frankenstein

44. Mary Shelley

45. 1994 film Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

46. Women made important contributions to the Enlightenment in other ways. • Wealthy women helped spread Enlightenment ideas through social gatherings called salons. • Emilie de Chatelet, was educated in math and science. She translated Newton’s work from Latin into French, which sparked interest in science in France.

47. Emilie du Chatlet

48. Children • Before the Enlightenment, children were believed to be naturally sinful. • Parents raised their children with a harsh hand and treated them like miniature adults.

49. After the Enlightenment • People believed children should be better educated and could be allowed to mature into adulthood. • Parents lessened the use of corporal punishment and increased play time. • By 1780, rocking horses, puzzles, and play clothes. • The first Mother Goose books of nursery rhymes appeared. • The Newtonian System of the Universe Digested for Young Minds by Tom Telescope appeared. Children began to get discount tickets to museums and curiosity shows.